Betilla finished up eating her breakfast before the crying of the creature started up.

She walked over to the basket, which she cushioned with blankets where her strange creation slept.

She reached her hand out and the being instantly grabbed on started sucking on her fingers.

It's been a few days since the whole…. Mess happened and now she had a strange little thing on her hands.

She had finally cleaned up the damage and reinforced her defenses, especially against zombie chickens.

Now she had to figure out what to do with this weird little guy.

She couldn't keep it; she had duties as Head Nymph! But she couldn't just abandon it to fend for itself either.

She had to find a good home for it.

Looking over the creature, it grew a bit bigger. Now barely fitting in one hand, its privates now covered in a napkin, its eyes were still closed though.

It was kinda weird it was growing despite not having anything to eat since it was born. Betilla tried all kinds of foods. Pig milk, liquidized meat and even non fermented plum juice!

But the only thing that the little guy put in his mouth so far was her hand. Other than that it hasn't been eating at all (or needed any diapers Changed.)

At least it would probably be easy to raise for whoever takes the little creature.

Betilla looked over some of her notes. Before sighing longingly…. The whole guardian to protect us all would have to be shelved for the time being.

The entire thing was probably doomed from the start. She packed up her notes all with one hand, and all the materials she could. She also made sure the sunbeams would be secured and stored safely and had no chance of burning down her house.

After the creature was done sucking on her thumb and went back to sleep she put all the notes and supplies that remained away into the attic.

That was one problem done. Now she had to focus on the other one before she fully immersed herself in her duties as the head nymph:

What was she gonna do with this little guy?

She thought long and hard about it while staring at the slumbering enigma.

Well at the very least she should give it a name of sorts.

Lets see here…

Jimmy? No that doesn't seem to fit quite right, maybe if he looked more fairylike and had limbs.

Michel? No…. that didn't work either….

Ed?

Ubi?

Jade?

Desmond?

Jack?

Ancel?

Nope nothing seemed to work.

The red-headed fairy thought about it.

It looked like a Ray…. so maybe it could be raised among them no problem, so they probably should have a name that would fit in with them.

Well the Ray's names often have the word ray in them like Tarayzan, Rayomz, Samuray, and Rayphael so maybe his name should be…..

"Raytracer!"

She smiled proudly before frowning….

"No, that doesn't seem to fit…. Ugh, flip it! I'll just call you Rayman until we find you a home that will give you a proper name."

The little creature now dubbed Rayman just barely opened his eyes to look at her, he gave a little smile that caused a bit of his tongue to slip out.

She just sighed before she continued cleaning up.

Betilla was flying through the woods, holding Rayman in a bundle as he sucked on her thumb.

She knew that there was a colony of Rays somewhere in this jungle, but as always the limbless creatures liked to be difficult to find.

She really needed to find someone who could take care of her creation. She had a LOT to do and she didn't have the time to raise something like this.

She landed briefly, for some reason she's been getting tired a lot ever since the creature was born. The process probably just took a lot out of her.

The green-clad woman took off again looking through the forest. Seeing tall ancient trees, mushrooms, some broken rocks, vines, lush plants, trampled grass, flowers, sunbeams shining down, some odd holes in the ground, fruit and the breeze adding a bit of movement to everything.

She then lamented the fact that she probably should've thought of a plan to find the Ray's in the first place, especially since she was a member of the magic council.

But then she heard it.

"It's got to be around here somewhere!"

"Keep looking, UGH I can't believe the chief would lose it again, Why does it keep happening?"

"Let's find it before that thing comes back!"

"Where did that thing even come from anyways? It's like it came out of thin air?!"

Voices…. And that accent… they were limbless.

She flew towards them and found two Rays.

One with darker skin and the other with bright pink hair, they didn't have shoes and wore togas, and loose clothes.

They were looking for something in the bushes and branches.

"Excuse me!"

The two of them looked at her with wild concern. Once they saw her they turned to book it.

"Wait! I don't mean any harm! I found this little guy and I think he is one of yours!"

That got them to stop, still flighty they approached cautiously.

Betilla showed them the creature she was carrying.

They took a closer look, one of them pulling the blanket down to see Rayman more clearly.

One of them screamed in shock and the other quickly shouted "What is that thing?"

Then they took off quickly into the forest.

Betilla just stayed in place in shock and looked down at the little guy still having her thumb in his mouth. Why did they have such an extreme reaction to him?

Looking over the creature it didn't look like there was anything terrifying about him….

Cutting her losses with a sigh she decided to look elsewhere, knowing full well she wouldn't be able to catch up to the two fleeing Rays.

Once again she took a break, honestly she had no idea why she was so tired, she was bright eyed this morning.

Maybe it was just some side effects of the creation process?

She looked down at the little guy who stopped sucking on her finger, eyes barely opening up looking at her. A strange thrill of excitement ran through her seeing the creature opening its eyes for the first time but she shook it off.

She still needed to find a home for the little guy.

She continued along, this time walking. Passing by little brooks and trees.

*Ding!*

?

Betilla stopped when she heard a strange sound. What was that?

She turned around and saw a really weird…. Thing… Some kind of lengthy yellow creature with gemstones addoned it a big pair of lips with a single eye below it. Betilla could tell it was some kind of golem but it was…. Fleshy and overflowing with too much power that spark out uncontrollably. Something seemed familiar about it despite never seeing it before.

It made a horrible screeching sound as it lunged at the Nymph.

She dogged and ran away, wishing that her wings didn't feel so heavy….

The monster just chased after her. It wasn't the fastest but neither was Betilla on the ground.

But she managed to get a good distance away, before she tried to launch a magic bullet at it. Only to find she couldn't get her magic to flow. What was with that? But she couldn't dwell on that as the monster approached, she took off again….

She finally managed to lose the monster…. She hid in the trunk of a hollow tree. Panting she finally managed to catch her breath. What exactly was that thing? How did it suddenly appear out of thin air?

She shook herself out of it, she could deal with that later. Right now Rayman takes top priority, She needed to make sure he was safe before she could deal with that monster.

She looked down at the sleeping little creature, all that running didn't even stir it from its sleep. Maybe one of her sisters could babysit—

Wait. No.

She is not gonna be able to take care of him, That's the whole reason why she went out today. She just needed to find the tribe of Rays living in the forest, and give them the little guy….. (no matter how much the thought made her heart ake)

She finally managed to catch her breath, she felt a whole lot better.

Her wings finally started working again.

She looked around, she couldn't hear the monster anymore but she could see the damage it had done.

She had to deal with it later, as she took off in the opposite direction of the path of destruction and hopefully away from the monster.

She just flew through the forest once more….

It was eerily quiet… no birds were singing, no animals dashing and hiding away, not even the breeze rustling the plants….. Sunlight barely making it through the leaves.

It was like there was an air of just…. Wrongness in the air.

Subconsciously, she bundled up her little creature and held him closer.

She just quickly ended up flying back towards her home.

But then she was stopped by a spear being logged right at the ground in front of her.

More spears rained down, landing down in several spaces around her.

A threat not to move.

The Nymph looked up to see several Rays, some of them still holding spears aimed right at her hiding in the leaves, the shadows.

Betilla swallowed nervously.

One of them jumped down and started walking towards her with some swagger and anger.

"Well look at what we have here….."

She got a good look at the Ray approaching her. He had surprisingly short hair for a ray having a short mohawk and goatee, heavy leather boots, hands had some bandages and the tank with the bling…. He didn't look like he belonged to the Forest tribe but there seemed to be some wild energy…. One powered by spite that made him fit right in….

"Seems like one of the Magic Council finally decided to come and see what it's REALLY like down here." His voice filled with spite.

"Hello, I don't mean any trouble-"

"OHHHHhhhhh OHHH… But you bring nothing but trouble, you people think you know the answers to all the problems of the world. Thinking that you can solve broken problems with broken solutions….. You think you're safe up there on that mountain, that you had a chance, above us all but, down here…..

You hit the ground."

Betilla prepared to attack but something flew past her head and into a tree behind her. She briefly looked down to see some of her hair was now loose on the ground, and then she looked back at The Ray.

A blade made of energy was in his hand, despite looking straight at him, she didn't see him attack. There was no way for her to act before him. Startled, she landed….

"Look, I don't know what you're talking about, I was just hoping your tribe could take care of this little guy…" She softly gestured to Rayman in her arms.

The limbless just walked even closer. The fairy shrunk back in fear.

"You think I'm some sort of idiot!? There is no way that is the case! You folk wouldn't just let go of the opportunity!"

The blade was now super close to her neck.

"So either this is some kind of con, or you just don't know despite being on the Council. WHICH MAKES ME EVEN ANGER ABOUT IT!"

He turns away for a bit.

"Ok, I'm gonna chill man…. It's ok man…. " He takes a few deep breaths before turning back to the red head looking dead in her eyes.

"Do you know what the definition of insanity is? Insanity is doing the exact…. Same flippin thing… over and over again expecting…. Things to change.

I know how you are looking at me like I'm some kind of freak but I ask you what the HEX is your people thinking about!?

It didn't WORK back then, what makes you think it will work NOW!? You're just repeating history!? AGAIN AND AGAIN!"

He punched a tree, Betilla heard one of the Rays up there go 'whooaa' before going quiet again.

"I'm Cool… I'm cool…." He turned back and approached again this time eyeing the little bundle in her arms.

He practically glared at Rayman who was looking at him right back with barely opened eyes, Betilla instinctively turned away, putting a bit more distance between the two.

"It's just too convenient for you people to just…. Give us back one of our own so I have to ask….. What is this REALLY about? Don't say it's about that abomination that appears out of thin air either, No one had even implied about it to you miss Guardian of the forest or any other of you little counsel. You lot like to stay high and dry."

The tank wearing Ray just looked at her, raising a (metaphorical) eyebrow at her.

Rayman just reached out and grabbed the other's limbless muzzle.

The tiny hand was swatted away, landing a good few feet away onto the ground…. Clearly the red wearing Ray little patience has run out.

"I'm gonna give you 30 seconds….." The knife is trained on her throat, "To give me a valid reason why you're here….."

The eye contact Betilla had with this Ray felt like it went on for hours.

"WHAT THE HEX!?"

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

"RAY VAAS, LOOK OUT!"

"OH LAND OF THE LIVID DEAD!"

Betilla and her attacker looked up at the Rays in the trees. They were all freaking out, all their eyes all locked on something, following their gaze they saw…. Really nothing there sides the dirt, a few plants, Rayman's little hand wiggling on the ground, some fallen leaves and rocks.

"Huh?"

"WHAT IN THE DREAMS OF THE CREATOR!?" The aggressive Ray fell backwards onto the ground in shock before scampering off into the woods. All the other Rays followed suit running deep into the forest. Leaving a very confused fairy behind.

She walked over and picked up the little squirming hand. It ended up grabbing her hand and guided it to his mouth and started sucking on it again.

She sighed, looking around for any more trouble before flying back home.

It was one disaster after another latey…

She was getting so tired….

She lost track of time….

At least she was no longer in the deep part of the woods.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!"

Betilla perked up at the scream and quickly flew towards it to see what was going on.

She found the Magician, in all his long haired glory, holding his cane pointing it like it could shoot something and a large patched trunk in front of him like some sort of shield…. And the monster from before attacking him.

Knowing that this probably wasn't the smartest idea, she set Rayman down on the ground. (not the most responsible either but she wasn't about to throw hands with a baby in her hands)

She charged a bullet in her hand, flew up and struck the thing from behind. It barely flinched, it just slowly turned around and looked at her….

It swiped at her but she managed to doge, she kept flinging bullets at the beast but it seemed to just….. Absorb them. Out of its mouth it spit out a livingstone, but it was missing its arms and legs. It went after the Magician.

The monster went after the fairy once more, she quickly got out of the way and landed next to the Magician who was struggling with the green thing with his trunk.

She flung a bullet at the Livingstone, causing it to fly upwords. Then she caused the plants around to grow and entrap the monster completely.

It worked for a little bit but then it broke free with a mighty roar.

Betilla fell to her knees. Tired.

The Magician stood in front of her protectively.

Both of them looked at the monstrosity, eyes glared, a smile and ran its toung across its disgusting lips in anticipation ready to pounce and finish them off…

Then it suddenly looked very woozy, its eyes started drifting, it staggered a bit before falling down, just short of crushing the Ray and the Fairy.

The two of them just looked on in bewilderment.

"What just happened?"

"I don't know….."

The color of the Monster started to be drained starting from its lips towards its legs.

Betilla just sat there before it hit her like the zombie chicken did.

"RAYMAN!"

She quickly flew behind the monster to look for her tiny creation.

She sighed in relief when she saw he was alright….. And sucking on one of the monster's feet.

"Ok, thats gross buddy," She grabbed the little guy and tried to pull him away, but he held on.

She tried harder to pull away but he held on with such fierce determination.

"Probably let him finish….."

"Huh?" She turned to look at her companion.

He scratched his head with his cane.

"Young limbless don't drink milk or feed on normal food. They devour pure energies and magics, so that their cores, the first thing that develops is the strongest it can be. They are pretty good at holding back when it comes to natural living creatures, but when it comes to magical items and constructs, they leave them dry."

She looked down at Rayman again with some wide eyes…. Noticing that the foot he was sucking on had the most color while the rest of it drained, the head of the Beast starting to crack and break.

"Oh….. That actually explains a few things."

"The good thing about it is that we don't have to worry about diapers! By the time the young one weans off it he should be able to learn how to use the john properly!" he said in a cheerful tune.

She shook her head, and continued watching Rayman. He finally got the literal foot out of his mouth. She then properly scooped him up.

The Magician came closer… and then backed up a little bit in shock before clearing his nonexistent throat.

"I see that you were successful in creating your guardian." He looked at the little guy with discomfort.

Betilla just looked at Ray for some answers.

"How could you tell I made him?"

"Huh? Oh, well no limbless have belly buttons or nipples,"

"Why is that so off putting?"

"Well those things just don't belong to Limbless, it's like if a bird had fairy teeth instead of a beak."

She shuddered at that thought.

"Exactly."

"So I'm gonna go ahead and guess that your hands don't keep moving after they are separated from you."

"Yes, our cores contain everything vital about ourselves, including our minds," he pointed to his chest, "if any of our five other parts get too far away from it they stop functioning as the core can't tell it what to do anymore, and we just can't swap parts after all. If the part is still able to move… then it must literally have a mind of its own."

Betilla just looked sorrowfully at her creation.

"So there is no limbless that will take care of him…. I….. I have to take care of him."

"I'm afraid so… But I am interested to see what this little thing can do in the future. The one and only RAYMAN! The first of his kind created and raised by the incredible fairy Betilla!"

"I am not sure if I can do it…. I'll probably mess up."

"We all mess up, that's what makes us living things, what will matter is that you recognize when you mess up and try to make amends."

She shook her head and made one last plea to try and escape this responsibility.

"Can't you look after him?"

"HaHaHa….. No, I'm constantly on the run from the Magic Council, I wouldn't have any time to feed him, let alone getting him to sleep."

It took her a few moments to register the words other than 'No'.

"What?" She turned her head to see that he was gone.

She turned her head back, and just stared ahead blankly. She didn't snap out of it until two tiny hands touched her face.

She looked down at the little thing, struggling to keep its eyelids open, it gave a weak smile.

She smiled back.

"I guess this is something I have to do, at least until you can strike out on your own."

She looked at the remains of the flesh golem, it completely shriveled up, its skin crumbled and flaked away showing the components within.

Betilla frowned…. Some of those items used to make the golem…. Looked like some of the items that were stolen.

She shook her head and quickly took off towards her home, Rayman cradled in her arms.

She had more pressing matters at hand.

Like how she was going to perform her council duties while her creation was eating as much magic it can get his disembodied hands on.